Meaning & Origin
A transliteration of the Russian or Ukrainian male given name Лев (Lev).
Lev is a boy's and girl's baby name of Hebrew origin, from the Hebrew lev meaning "heart" — the simplest, most fundamental of all name meanings. It is also used in Russian as the equivalent of Leo, from the Latin for "lion."
Lev carries the warmth and centrality of the heart in just three letters. Russian author Lev Tolstoy — born Лев Николаевич Толстой, the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina — is one of its most celebrated bearers. In Jewish communities, Lev has deep emotional resonance as a name that literally means the center of feeling.